The Cost of Victory
by Indiana Jackson
Summary: (working title) "For as long as she could remember, Emma knew her mother was special. Her mom could Do Things. Her father couldn't do these things, none of her siblings could do these things, Emma herself could not do these things." I finally wrote one where there's no death, and a happyish ending. the summary is rubbish but the story itself might be worth a look. :)
For as long as she could remember, Emma knew her mother was special. Her mom could Do Things. Her father couldnt do these things, none of her siblings could do these things, Emma herself could not do these things. When Emma was four, she watched her mom wave her hand and float the dirty dishes across the kitchen after looking around to see if anyone was watching. When Emma was six, her mom kissed a cut on Emma's finger and it healed. A mothers touch , she said.

As Emma grew up, she gradually forgot about what her mom could do. First college pulled her away , then dating her now husband, Eric. Finally the birth of her son, Ridley. Until Ridley was two, and he started to Do Things. Emma had long suspected her mother was magic, but she hadn't belived it, not really. So when she knocked on her parents door and was met with her mothers smile, she didnt know how to ask.

Emma sat on the sofa across from her mother,with her wiggly two year old in her lap. She looked at her mother. Really looked. At the long wavy black curls, still as dark as when Emma was little. At the hazel eyes, still as bright, and she knew.

"Mom, are you magic?" Her softly spoken question left her mother sputtering.

"ho-why do you ask?"

"Because I think Ridley is too, mom. He started floating his things around last week."

Emma didnt know what she expected, but it wasnt her mother gasping and for tears to start rolling down her face.

"mom,mom whats wrong?"

Her mother composed her self and waved her hand. A picture, a _moving_ picture appeared in her hand. Emma handed Ridley to her mom, and took the picture. A small bushy haired girl, stood sandwiched in between a tall red head and a skinny black haired boy. Her eyes widened as she recogonized the black haired boy. It was her uncle Harry.

"I know this is uncle Harry, but who are the other two?"

"The other boy was a school friend named Ron, and the girl, she's me, Emma. My maiden name isnt Potter. It was Granger. Hermione Granger. When I was in school, there was an evil man, who wanted to rule the world and wipe my kind out. I am whats called a Muggle born, or I was anyway. It means my parents werent magical, but I was. Your Uncle Harry and I, and many others fought a war to stop that madman. Many of our friends and family died to bring him down. He's why you dont know your grandparents. During the final battle, I was hit with a harmless looking curse, but it wasn't. It made it so I could never give birth to a magical child. Your uncle Blood-Adopted me later in the hope that the power of his family's magic would break the curse. But it didnt work. So I left the magical world and married your father. I had you and your brothers. the only ones I keep in contact with is your uncles Harry and Neville, and your aunts Luna and Hannah."

As she spoke, Emma's mother bounced Ridley up and down on her knee to keep him quiet. Emma was dumbfounded, her mother was magical, and apparently so was her maternal aunts and uncles. Except they werent really her aunts and uncles. It made her head ache, but she was determined to find out all she needed to protect her son.

"Whats a Blood-Adoption? It changed your appeareance, mom."

"Thats what it does. A Blood-Adoption changes the adoptee's apearance so they match the family they are adopted into. If you tested my DNA and Harry's it would say we were fraternal twins. Say a Head of a Family had no heir, or he couldnt have anymore children, He could Blood-Adopt a child and they would legally and magically be a member of his family. Its a ritual, you change the wording a bit and some of the ingredients to change the affect. Harry always saw me as his sister, so thats what we chose. You can choose a child, cousin or sibling aspect."

They both looked down as there was a little pop and Hermione's arms were suddenly empty. There was another little pop and Ridley reappeared across the room, next to the biscuit tin. He pulled it toward him and greedily crunched into one. Emma turned wide eyes back to her mother as she sighed.

"Huh, Harry said he couldnt do that till he was older. Apparently he floated alot when he was little though. I just levitated my books to my bed. Lets hope that was the one time he could do that for now, or things are going to get interesting." She kept her eyes on Ridley as he ate the biscuit. Hermione flicked her hand and the tin closed and floated over to land on the coffee table. There was a pop and Ridley was beside the tin. Hermione snorted. "Apparently not..."

After Emma regained her composure and Ridley stopped popping around, Apparition her mom said, she asked how Ridley could do these things.

"Harry always hoped, and I did too that the curse was restricted to just my children. That my grand children might have the ability. I've never been so glad to be proven right."

As there was no way to keep Ridley's magic a secret, Hermione and Emma brought the rest of the family in on the secret. Ben kissed his wife on the forehead and said, "I always knew you were magic dear. I just didnt know what kind. "

Nine years later when Ridley got his letter, the whole family waved him and Harry's daughter, Pandora, onto a gleaming red express to a whole new world.

A/N : For those of you wondering, Hermione met and married a nice muggle named Ben and never told him she was a witch. The curse stole the magic from Hermione's children as soon they were born, so they are in effect, Squibs. Harry married Luna and has a son and a daughter. Pandora, with blonde hair and green eyes, and her younger brother, James Sirius (borrowed from JK), who has his fathers hair and his mother's eyes. As to why Harry didnt marry Ginny, he chose to support Hermione's choice. As she couldnt bring her family to the Burrow, Harry and Hermione gradually drifted apart from the Weasleys as they had less and less in common.


End file.
